Demo Part 2 (of 2): The Ossifibulous Bracelet

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I'll have to rename my studio the "Turner Trench" because of all the ancient relics that have been unearthed here - faux fossilized bone, fossilized husband (aka The Arctic Fox) - just kidding, honey! I've just been told that the above line is classic passive/aggressive behaviour - no! Really?!!

Let's pick up where we left off.
When you have covered the entire bracelet with the faux bone it should look something like this (I couldn't get the auto focus to work until I placed a strong contrast shape in the field!)

There will be variation in thickness of the slices, overlapping areas and bare areas - in other words, it will be very irregular.

At this point I use my handy-dandy WABL wand (designed by me, named by me after me, purely for posterity's sake; no ego involved whatsoever, I swear!) You could use a large knitting needle. I like this thin acrylic wand because I can see through it. Anyway, I use this to smooth out all the irregularities by rolling them out to the outer edge, following the direction of the striations on the faux bone slices. I also use my fingers to smooth areas difficult to reach with the wand and to distort the striations a bit.

This helps to create randomness in the outer edge because areas with thick or overlapping slices will bulge out slightly on the outer edge, creating irregularity which, if you choose, you can remove, or keep as part of the design shape.

All smoothed out.

It's time to create the focal edge. The original bracelet has a dark grey, almost leather-look edge and it goes very will with silver accessories.

I wanted this one to have a more mechanical, steampunkish remnant that related to gold, or warm tones.













To find more detailed directions for making this, please go to the Scrap Clay Process post earlier in the blog. You can find this easily by going to the small "search" window on the left, lower down, of the main page and typing in "scrap clay process". Any of my posts that involve this process will come up in a list and you can choose the one you want - in this case I believe it is Sept. 29, 2012 - Scrap Clay Process. Ok, ok, I know, I am Sheldon incarnate (with a touch of Penny thrown in to humanize me!)

Tear off (or cut - your choice) a piece and apply over the edge. Add some detailing (in this case I want to simulate riveted plates of metal)

Distress the faux bone veneer if desired as described in the first faux fossilized bone video. This picks up the paint used to antique and adds a lot of interest to the piece. You will see this at the end.

It's time to add the finishing touches - bling!

You will need to experiment with the amount of black clay in the little ball that forms the bezel around the flat-backed crystal. You want enough that it bulges up around the sides and holds the crystal in place, but not so much that it overwhelms the crystal. I make all the balls at the same time so the sizes will be the same for all crystals of a particular size. It's frustrating when you get the perfect crystal setting and don't know how big a ball you used to get it! Flatten the ball slightly before you set it in place.

Place the flat-back crystal (I use Swarovski's - they are really beautiful!) on the flattened ball. Use the flattened back end of a paint brush or rubber-tipped clay tool to gently, evenly push the crystal down till the sides come up and encase the crystal. If you want you can use a rubber-tipped clay tool to gently push the edges in so they hold the crystal firmly. If you are worried that it won't hold, gently pry the crystal off and glue down with a tiny bit of cyanoacrylate glue.

Here is the bracelet ready for the oven. I place it on a double layer of polyester batting and cover with foil. Bake about 1 hour.

Here it is after sanding to 1000, antiquing with oil paint (half black, half burnt umber) and buffing on the Foredom.

Both sides of the new one. You can see the difference in the faux fossilized bone in the two bracelets. The one with the charcoal attachment has a finer, more even bone striation, whereas the one with the bronzey metal attachment has a more irregular striation with much more translucent, yielding more dark areas peeking through.